Brooklyn
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Prospect Park
Fall migration has begun, and the park is filling again with birds on their way south. I had a morning full of American Redstarts around Lookout Hill. And there was of course much else to see. And hear. A few of them: Long shot across the Upper Pool. Several Wood ducks and a couple of…
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We’ve Got Crabs
The triangle of saltmarsh ot the southern end of Pier One at Brooklyn Bridge Park is an experiment. It’s cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora), which thrives even though it’s flooded by salt water at high tides. In flower now, it will send many seeds off on the currents, searching for mudflats. Key to its success, though, is…
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Habitat
Brooklyn Bridge Park’s horticulturalist Rebecca McMackin told me recently that she consciously works to create habitat. The proof is in the animals: Spot-winged glider (Pantala hymenaea), a new species for me. A reader of this blog, in private conversation, noted how the carrion beetle thing yesterday was a little queasy, but I personally find these…
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Form
The forms of nature are virtually infinite. These buds will soon resolve themselves into the saucer-sized flowers of Rose Mallow (Hibiscus moscheutos).And inside one of the blossoms already opened.
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Geothermal Well
I’d like one of these. At the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s new Visitor Center, “Twenty-eight geothermal wells will heat and cool the building; they will be supplemented by the utility grid only as needed. The building is also nestled into the surrounding hillside, which helps provide insulation.”
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Corner Pocket
A fairly representative New York City tree pit. “Pit” is definitely the word here. The hard-pan — calling this sterile-looking misery “soil” would be an insult — looks like something you’d find in a draught-ravaged desert. And you can imagine the gallons of poisonous dog piss that have been poured in over the years. It’s…
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Blue Wings To Die For
The Great Black Wasp (Sphex pensylvanicus) is a katydid and grasshopper hunter. As with the spider hunters and others I’ve been detailing this summer, the prey provisions the nests of their young. In between wrestling paralyzed katydids to the nest, these wasps sup on nectar. Like most solitary wasps, this generation never see their progeny…
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Brooklyn Sunset
I like to think of these as a herd of giraffe, heading towards the last watering hole of the day across the harbor in New Jersey.Brooklyn Bridge Park, where all these pictures were taken tonight, is scarce on mammals. This rat, a creature of the docks if there ever was one, was larger than it…
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Twelve Spotted
The Twelve-spotted skimmer (Libellula pulchella) is one of the easiest dragonflies to identify. You can even tell from the shadow. This is the female — the males have white patches between the dark spots.
Backyard and Beyond 